Aspen residents unhappy with VH1's 'Secrets of Aspen' reality show

By Christopher Rocchio, 01/07/2010

VH1's new Secrets of Aspen reality series apparently isn't sitting too well with some of the city's residents.

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"Like it or not, Secrets of Aspen premiered on VH1 last night. A lot of people have very strong feelings about the show, and many have asked the city of Aspen why we granted it a film permit," Aspen community relations officer Sally Spaulding wrote in a Monday post to her city blog.

Secrets of Aspen follows six single women as they attempt to find love over the course of one summer in the "city of haves and have-nots where friction commonly occurs between the two," according to VH1's premiere announcement.

Spaulding wrote that the city "does not ask for things such as scripts, content information, etc." when issuing a film permit, so government officials had little idea what the reality show's premise would entail.

"We review things such as insurance, use of facilities agreements, etc. In this respect, High Noon Entertainment, the production company for Secrets of Aspen, complied with all City regulations. They also provided the City with a detailed filming schedule, and they worked with venues to achieve specific permissions for filming," she wrote.

"We did not place any conditions on Aspen's image or content by approving High Noon's film permit for Secrets of Aspen. If we did, we would violate their right to free speech and freedom of expression."

Spaulding wrote that High Noon had 35 crew members while filming the series -- 12 of which were local -- and she added the production company spent an estimated $701,000 in the city during the shoot last summer.